Piotr Niewiadomski

Sept 2005 - Sept 2006
MA in Human Geography, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, (UK)

Sept 2002 - Jan 2003
Socrates/Erasmus Scholarship in Management and Political Sciences, University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands)

Oct 1999 - June 2004
MA in Geography of Tourism and Hotel Industry, University of Lodz (Poland)

Different forms of expansion of international hotel groups and the processes of regional development in Central and Eastern Europe.

Supervisor: Dr Martin Hess and Dr Neil Coe.

The main objective of my PhD project is to describe and explain the interactions between different forms of corporate growth of international hotel groups and the processes of regional development in various institutional contexts in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). While it cannot be questioned that we live in the era of unprecedented and turbulent changes, normally referred to as “globalisation”, the processes of economic globalisation still remain largely unexplored both in geographical and sectoral terms. Conducted from the perspective of economic geography and grounded in the Global Production Networks (GPN) theoretical framework the project tackles two significant research lacunae – one sectoral (the international hotel industry) and one territorial (CEE).

The paucity of research on services in general and tourism and the hotel sector in particular (the sectoral gap) is especially pronounced with regard to the CEE region (the territorial gap). Meanwhile, the globalisation of the service sector which further to the collapse of the communist system in 1989 has also embraced CEE is seen to have an increasing influence on the (re)integration of the CEE countries into the global economy. Simultaneously, the importance of the CEE market in the globalisation of services is also constantly growing. Therefore, by means of exploring the role of the international hotel industry in the post-communist transformation in CEE on the one hand and the role of the CEE market in the globalisation of the hotel sector on the other, the project is hoping to enhance the overall understanding of the processes of globalisation in CEE.

Based upon Dicken’s (1998) distinction between internationalisation (viewed as the simple extension of corporate activities across national borders) and globalisation (defined as the functional integration of cross-border activities) the project explores both “dimensions” of the globalisation of the hotel sector. Thus, apart from investigating the spatial expansion of international hotel groups across CEE (the horizontal dimension) the project also focuses on the embeddedness of various hotel TNCs in the variety of socio-political and institutional contexts currently emerging in CEE in the place of state socialism (the vertical dimension). Whilst on the one hand the project investigates how the processes of the post-communist transformation in CEE influence the expansion of international hotel groups into the region, it simultaneously pays attention to the ways in which the expanding hotel groups and their global production networks foster the transformation and influence the processes of value creation, enhancement and capture for the benefit of regions across CEE.

The research questions concern the following issues:

• The geographical distribution of international hotel groups in the CEE region,
• The reasons for and limitations to the expansion of international hotel groups into CEE after 1989,
• The influence of the variety of political, economic and institutional contexts in CEE on the pace, direction and forms of the expansion,
• The impact of the international hotel sector on the processes of regional growth in CEE,
• The role of international hotel groups in fostering the post-communist transformation in CEE;

In methodological terms the project is purely qualitative. Based upon semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis it follows a strategy of two intersecting multiple case studies – territorial (selected CEE states) and organisational (selected international hotel groups). While at the general level the project aims to generalise about the whole CEE region and the whole international hotel sector, the research focuses on three CEE states (Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria) and all international hotel groups out of the world “Top 50” who have a presence in the CEE market (24 hotel groups).

Niewiadomski, P. (2006) Golden Tulip Top Hospitality Group jako system hotelowy, Turystyka i Hotelarstwo, 7, WSTiH, Lodz.

Niewiadomski, P. (2007) Ekspansja miedzynarodowych systemów i lancuchow hotelowych do Europy Srodkowej i Wschodniej po roku 1989, Turystyka i Hotelarstwo, 9, WSTiH, Lodz.